1. Technical Field
This invention is a new approach to install, safely operate and finally dispose of a nuclear reactor (and its spent fuel) which is part of an electric power generating plant.
2. Background Art
Most nuclear reactors today are installed along with their steam turbines and electric generators in conventional industrial type buildings above ground. Industry inevitably has accidents. Nuclear accidents are catastrophic. Further, terrorists may attack or sabotage nuclear plants in order to create nuclear accidents.
Present day methods of building and operating nuclear plants are dangerous and public apprehension has almost stopped the construction of nuclear power plants. However, the world""s technological advances are growing so fast that the need for electrical power can no longer be met. The environmental damage from burning fossil fuels is also becoming unacceptable. Nuclear power is therefore needed to provide the additional electrical power needed today.
Disposal of nuclear waste from nuclear reactors presents major safety and political problems, including the problem of transporting the waste from the reactor to a disposal site. During transportation, the waste will pass near or through major population centers and may be subject to accidents or terrorist acts. Thus, a method for disposing of nuclear waste without transporting it near or through population centers must be found in order to overcome these safety and political problems.
The invention comprises an underground vertical shaft with a nuclear reactor suspended in the shaft near the top, preferably by a single stem. A release mechanism to release the nuclear reactor is provided, so that activating the release mechanism causes the nuclear reactor to fall down to the bottom of the shaft. The release mechanism can be a furnace or explosives surrounding the stem. Preferably a drainage pipe accessible from ground level is provided that opens into the vertical shaft, and flowable material is located in the drainage pipe and adjacent to the upper end of the drainage pipe. The flowable material can be sand, gravel, pebbles, earth fill or other suitable material. Preferably an activatable gate is provided in the lower end of the drainage pipe so that when the gate is activated, the flowable material flows through the drainage pipe into the vertical shaft. Optionally, a pulverizing device for pulverizing spent nuclear fuel and for mixing the pulverized nuclear fuel with a filler is positioned in the bored shaft below the reactor, so that the mixed pulverized fuel and filler can be dropped into the shaft for disposal. A supply pipe is also provided to supply the filler, which can be sand or loose earth.
More specifically, the invention is to install a nuclear reactor underground near ground level, at the top of a deep bored vertical shaft, preferably approximately 1200 feet (approximately 365 meters) deep. The reactor would be installed in a preferably bullet shaped shell designed to be dropped down that shaft when the reactor becomes dangerous or obsolete. The entire installation can preferably be covered by a layer of reinforced concrete. This would contain and seal in any radiation that would otherwise be released by an accidental rupture of the reactor, an aerial bomb attack or a ground level bomb attack.
At the appropriate time, the reactor can be released to its final safe burial deep underground. The hole can then be filled and plugged. Any fear of radioactive contamination is reduced or eliminated.
This installation also preferably incorporates a device that pulverizes discarded fuel rods into particles and dilutes these particles with large portions of filler, such as sand or loose earth, which are then dropped to the bottom of the bored shaft. This resulting mixture does not produce unacceptable levels of heat and the radiation level is near normal background level. Preferably the radiation level is reduced to approximately that of the raw ore from which the fuel was extracted in the first place, or at least to acceptable background levels of radiation.
The pulverizing device of this invention can be used to accept and process depleted fuel rods from other nuclear reactors. These accumulated and dangerous stocks of depleted fuel rods, from installations that have no means of disposing of them, can now be rendered comparatively harmless and safe, buried deep underground.